Warner Bros. stores to close by year's end

Advertiser Staff and News Services

AOL Time Warner Inc. will close its Warner Bros. retail stores, including its store in Hawai'i, eliminating 3,800 jobs by the year's end because the biggest media and entertainment company failed to find a buyer for the chain, a spokeswoman said.

Most of the 120 stores will be closed by the end of October spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said. The rest will be shut down by the end of the year.

Store officials in Hawai'i and on the Mainland said yesterday they did not know how many full- and part-time employees would be affected at the company's Ala Moana store, or whether a closing date had been set. A Warner Bros. store on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki closed last year.

AOL Time Warner said in January that it would either close or sell the Warner Bros. stores. At that time, the New York-based company said it also would eliminate more than 2,000 jobs from businesses, including the America Online Internet service, New Line Cinema, Warner Music Group and the CNN cable network.

The job cuts are designed to help the company meet a goal this year of $11 billion in cash flow, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

AOL Time Warner was formed in January when AOL bought Time Warner Inc. for $124 billion in stock and assumed debt.